Saturday, January 16, 2010

Griefing101

Griefing. A word that came into existence in Ultima Online that continues to be used to this day, usually in a derogatory fashion. But Griefing, while some take it overboard, was often just a part of the game. Often the most fun parts of the game. Ultima Online was an amazing game pre-Trammel that sadly has yet to be replicated in this day and age, mostly because of the carebears that have taken over the gaming world and whined that all games must be easy and skilless. You really had to be there to understand what it was like. No amount of explaining can really give you a feel for a giant world where you could do anything, with almost no rules. To those who wanted a simple game where they could farm dungeons and fight NPC bosses without worrying about other players.....it is now your era since you cried enough about it to make developers pansy up the games. But when Ultima first came out, it was the era of the Dreadlords, exploiters and PVPers. Murderers, and guilds thriving in a lawless land where you could do almost anything, anytime, anywhere.

Well folks, its been at least 13 years of gaming for me, and stories from the dawn of Starcraft and Ultima Online, to Warcraft 3, various shooter games and MMORPG's like World of Warcraft, Dark Ages of Camelot, and more.

Often the best time to play a game is in the Beta phase, and right when the game comes out. It enables you to experience what it was like before the developers nerf it to hell and dumb it down so even inept players can have fun, instead of forcing players to develop skill.

I understand that some people look at griefing, and powergaming with disdain, but if that is the case, this blog is not for you. In the end, you are the ones that really won. The games today are tailored to the roleplayers and instance players who want peaceful farming and dungeon crawling anyways, so you do not have a whole lot to truly complain about.

This blog stands as a testimony to what gaming was like when various games came out, starting with the King of all MMORPG's. Ultima online.

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Diary of a Griefer

A gamer in his 20's who was around from the start of true gaming, and remains to this day. Life and circumstance has made gaming less and less a part of my life as time has gone on. Real jobs and family take time away from us all, and only gets worse as you get older. But While at work, with time to kill on a computer, I can be nostalgic and share what it was like with you all